Halfway Point to Hawaii

I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and after moving first to California and then to Colorado, I’ve returned numerous times, visiting my mom and stepdad when they were still alive and since for family vacations.

When we’ve flown on United Airlines, the crew often has a contest for passengers to guess the time the plane will pass the halfway point to Honolulu. They provide the takeoff time, total expected flight time and anticipated wind speeds for the first and second halves of the trip. From this information passengers can  make their calculations and turn in their estimate on a sheet of paper given to the flight attendants.

I’ve tried this for years. I go through all kinds of elaborate calculations and have never won. Then last summer when we went to Hawaii on a vacation, I decided to not do any calculations but wing it with a gut estimate. Wouldn’t you know it, I won. I became the proud owner of a Hawaii travelogue book, which I did use during the trip.

Have you ever entered this type of contest, and if so, what happened?